Shot for DO schools

[sshamu]

Hey yall!
I was wondering if I could get some advice on what I should do at this point of my pre-med journey. In my second mcat, I scored a 504. I know its pretty low but I wanted to know what my chances might be at a DO school if I apply this cycle. My gpa is a 3.9 from a UC school and currently Im working as a scribe in a FQHC. I'm ORM and from California so I feel like this and the mcat score might not give me a shot. I would be open to any school DO or MD (though very unlikely this would follow through). I am passionate about psychiatry and would want to serve in underrepresented communities, I do need more experience in this area. I would be interested in applying but any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more info about me to tailor your guidance 🙂

Thank you 🙂

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[Mr.Smile12]

Have you posted your WAMC profile? Why not go for clinical psychology (PsyD)?

 

[Faha]

Do you have any physician shadowing, clinical volunteering or non clinical volunteering hours ? Your MCAT of 504 is competitive for most DO schools.

 

[sshamu]

Have you posted your WAMC profile? Why not go for clinical psychology (PsyD)?

I can post WAMC! I want to be able to give medications and also destigmatize going to the psychiatrist in underserved/poc communities. Also Im interested in mind body medicine so knowing the depths of that would also be helpful. Looking into addiction medicine/child and adolescent psychiatry

 

[sshamu]

Hey yall!
I was wondering if I could get some advice on what I should do at this point of my pre-med journey. In my second mcat, I scored a 504. I know its pretty low but I wanted to know what my chances might be at a DO school if I apply this cycle. My gpa is a 3.9 from a UC school and currently Im working as a scribe in a FQHC. I'm ORM and from California so I feel like this and the mcat score might not give me a shot. I would be open to any school DO or MD (though very unlikely this would follow through). I am passionate about psychiatry and would want to serve in underrepresented communities, I do need more experience in this area. I would be interested in applying but any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any more info about me to tailor your guidance 🙂

Thank you 🙂

WAMC for DO schools:
1. sGPA: 3.92, cGPA: 3.93, biology major
2. 496 > 504 mcat
3. CA resident ORM, south asian female, LGBTQ+

Clinical hours:
CNA volunteer work: 220
Medical Scribe at FQHC: 1000, working almost full time currently
Pediatric clinic abroad: 100 hours

Work Experience:
Behavioral therapist: 350

Activities:
Acappella: 500 hours, plus around 50 leadership hours
Mental health club on campus: 400 maybe > founded a club where we do workshops on mental health topics to underserved high schools in the city
Wellness group: 120 > created wellness programs for college students

Research:
Psychiatry/immunology research: 100, literally got nothing out of this, learned how to be in a wet lab and more in the field

Circadian rhythms psychiatry lab: 30 hours > poster presented at 2 conferences + abstract published

Shadowing:
ENT oncology surgery, primary care and virtually (only 25 hours) = total of 135

Volunteering:
Syringe clinic: 10 > just started
Crisis textline: 280 > spanish, English and campus advocate

Nonprofit work in mental health: 150 > learned about mental health, worked on small grants, created workshops, social media coordinator for addiction and youth mental health programs

Hobbies:
trained vocalist: 150
I like to be active by running, wt lifting and started karate recently

I would love to either be in psychiatry or primary care and definitely want to work with underserved communities. I'm mainly worried about the mcat score > also not sure if I should seek new experiences in public health or clinical research vs more experience with the underserved since I don't have that

Open to any DO or MD school

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
TUCOM-CA
WESTERN
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
MU-COM
CCOM
ACOM
WCU-COM
CUSOM
WVSOM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
Touro-NY

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Try to do more in direct service to underserved groups: food distribution, shelter volunteering, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. Try to stretch beyond a clinical or health/education-adjacent setting. Make sure we know you are comfortable with uncomfortable people and situations.

 

[Faha]

You could also try some MD schools and I suggest these:
California University
Roseman
Alice Walton
Belmont
TCU
NOVA MD
Methodist (when it opens)
Rosalind Franklin
Oakland Beaumont
Eastern Virginia
Albany

 

[sshamu]

Try to do more in direct service to underserved groups: food distribution, shelter volunteering, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. Try to stretch beyond a clinical or health/education-adjacent setting. Make sure we know you are comfortable with uncomfortable people and situations.

thank you! I will definetly look into this would the syringe clinic be part of this? We give out hygiene kits and new needles while taking in old ones to homeless people downtown and I can pack kits but unfortunately cannot work on grant funding/programing

 

[sshamu]

You could also try some MD schools and I suggest these:
California University
Roseman
Alice Walton
Belmont
TCU
NOVA MD
Methodist (when it opens)
Rosalind Franklin
Oakland Beaumont
Eastern Virginia
Albany

thank you so much!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

thank you! I will definetly look into this would the syringe clinic be part of this? We give out hygiene kits and new needles while taking in old ones to homeless people downtown and I can pack kits but unfortunately cannot work on grant funding/programing

I would count the work with syringe clinic. Packing such kits is like packing food for others. However, some adcoms say it's not "face to face" enough while others say the preparation and education for putting the kits together is insightful. Don't worry about grant-writing or fundraising.